Cheesedom

Cheesedom was a term used during the nineteenth century to describe Aurora, Ohio, and surrounding communities. Aurora had been a major center of cheese production in Ohio since at least 1808, when local producers shipped some of their cheese to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. By the late nineteenth century, Aurora residents produced and shipped more cheese than any other community in the entire world.

Among the leading cheese producers in Aurora were brothers Frank and Elisha Hurd. These two men built their first cheese factory, the Silver Creek Cheese Factory, in Aurora in 1862. The Hurds were the children of Hopson Hurd, a local cheese manufacturer who had amassed a fortune worth more than 250,000 dollars at the time of his death in 1869.

The Silver Creek Cheese Factory became one of the leading cheese producers in the United States by the late nineteenth century. Frank and Elisha Hurd created a multi-building factory, with a single process in cheese production taking place in each building. By the start of the twentieth century, the various cheese producers in Aurora, including eight plants owned by the Hurds, were shipping more than four million pounds of cheese around the world each year.

Unfortunately for the Hurds, the Flood of 1913 destroyed the Silver Creek Cheese Factory. Frank Hurd remained in the cheese business until 1921.